Boy! What a day! And today was only the beginning…. *sigh* This morning started off normally enough, but as I told you last night, the lovely Sharron the Stylist was coming over this morning to see what progress, if any, we’d made with our “de-cluttering” efforts. She was actually very pleased with what we’ve done so far, and has organised a “packer” for us for Thursday morning (bright and early!) She confirmed a few things that we weren’t sure were going to be moved out, and she gave us a few tips for how to get ready for “Open For Inspection” days – f’rinstance, get small plastic baskets, and before we leave the house, go through from room to room, picking up all of “our” items that the public doesn’t want to, and shouldn’t see, like the mink lined handcuffs, the red suspender belt, the nine-inch stiletto heeled, thigh-high boots, and the personalised riding crop… and putting them all in a cupboard for the half hour that the apartment will be open. Because Julian is the Body Corporate Secretary, we have access to a couple of utility rooms that we can make use of for temporary storage, so we won’t have to clutter our own wardrobes with plastic baskets full of “thingz”. Julian reminded Sharron that the more we could get packed up, the more furniture could be moved out – which is when we all decided that we could do with the services of a professional “packer”. We’ll have her for five hours on Thursday, and she’ll be arriving at…. 8.00am! Eight o’bloody-clock! We’re hardly even out of bed before eight o’clock, let alone showered, dressed, and breakfasted! The alarm goes off at 7.30, and it takes a few minutes of mumbling and grumbling before we can prise ourselves out from under the nice, warm doona… But, exceptions can be made under certain circumstances, and I guess this is one of them – we’ll be up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, by 8 o’clock on Thursday morning – just don’t expect us to say anything too sensible until after our third cup of coffee! Tomorrow, though, we have a “lay” day – my favourite eldest daughter is coming over – she has a Hairdresser appointment – and no doubt we’ll take advantage of the increasingly rare – quiet afternoon by watching episodes of whatever we haven’t seen yet. Thursday and Friday are going to be the killers! Not only is the packing lady coming bright and early on Thursday morning, but “our” furniture is being moved out – not all of it of course, just most of it. Poor Flipper will be quite distraught! Her couch is going! And her “Daddy Patting Chair”! The hall and the lounge room are going to look quite strange! The only things left in the lounge room will be the entertainment unit, with the television on it, and the coffee table! Three cabinets are going from the hall, leaving the big glass display case and the long dresser with the marble top. The sofa bed, the side tables, chest of drawers (I think they’re called “tallboys” or something) the lamps, and the big bookcase – in fact, everything in the spare room is going, except for the rug (I think!) There are a few things in the Den here which still have to be thrown out or packed, but there’s nothing much in the bedroom or “office” to go… thank goodness some rooms will still look familiar! The rental furniture doesn’t arrive until Friday, so I think we’re in for a rather “uncomfortable” night on Thursday! I hope Flipper will find it in her heart to forgive us…. all the cat stands are going too… (not that she uses them much these days – she’s a bit too old and creaky to leap gracefully and gazelle-like from ledge to ledge anymore!) The cleaners will be in on Saturday, the photographers next Tuesday… and then we’ll maybe get a bit of peace and quiet for the duration – except for the “Open For Inspection” days – Wednesdays and Saturdays (not sure of the times though – sorry!)

Today, as most of you know, we went over to Stillwater to measure things (and yes, we do still love the place and can’t wait to move in! 🙂 ) The current owners were there too – the mother, two boys, a little girl, and a very little dog. We wandered around from room to room, trying to be as quick as possible, and got all our measurements. I was surprised – we’d expected that maybe quite a bit of the furniture we’d seen there had been “rental”, like most of ours will be, and that most of it wouldn’t be there this time, but the only thing that was missing was the piece that I had most wanted to buy from them – the lounge suite in the Rumpus room! Only the coffee table, entertainment unit and television were still in there! (and a lot of washing, drying on clothes horses!) After we’d finished our measuring and were about to say “Thank you” and get moving, the mother decided to get really chatty, so we stopped and gossiped on for a bit – I think the only two people who were getting a bit “antsy” about standing around talking, were me, because my back was starting to give out big time, and “Julian-The-Agent”, because he probably had another appointment booked this afternoon (or maybe his back was killing him, too!) We get another inspection, seven days before settlement…  We’re going to need all the instruction booklets for things like the air conditioner, the heater, the ducted vacuum (and where it ends up) and the hot water thingy – it’s gas, but it has solar boosting (or whatever!) I presume there’s a remote control for the garage door… no doubt we’ll find out… “My-Julian” won himself some “Brownie points” with the current owners, too – as we were leaving (I was already in the car) he noticed that the very little dog had managed to get out, and was running around on the road! As it had been barking furiously at us when we first arrived, and we’re not really “dog” people (don’t misunderstand me – we do like dogs… as long as they belong to someone else, OK?!) “My-Julian” decided to “herd” it back to the front door – which he did – but he noticed that the children were playing in the garage, so he herded the very little dog over there instead. Apparently the children were (a) horrified that the dog had managed to get out, and (b) very grateful to “My-Julian” for getting him back into their custody again.

Weigh-in this morning. I’m still grumpy, and I’m starting to get the feeling that I’m never going to leave the 84kg zone! One point! I went down one, measly little point! from 84.4kg to 84.3kg… I’m so annoyed and frustrated! The last time I was on these bloody pills (‘scuse the French!) I still lost weight – albeit a bit more slowly. This time, because I’m trying so bloody desperately to get down as far as I can before I see Dr. Y. again, I’m actually going backwards! Putting weight on! Yes, I know it’s just fluid! yes, I know that when I stop taking the damn pills I’ll lose the excess fluid (and the weight) again, but that’s not the point, is it!! (ahhh… at last we are re-coffied!) I shall have words with Dr. Y. about these pills…. (Winter stares ominously at the screen)

Next week, once the photos are taken, the painters have been in to do the odd touch-up here and there, and now that we have all the measurements we need, we’ll be able to go furniture shopping in earnest! This time, I shall also “let my fingers do the walking” and look online! If not for specific items of furniture themselves, then at least for the shops which might have them! I’m quite looking forward to that… 🙂 At least today I had a chance to not only get the kitchen table’s measurements, but I also had the chance to have a good look at it! Last time we were looking at furniture, we didn’t have a clue as to how big the table was, and neither of us could really remember what it looked like, or what sort of legs it had! Well, we now know! It was quite plain, darkish wood, and plain, straight, fairly large, square legs (the word “choonky” springs to mind!). We did see a couple of tables with legs like that, but we didn’t think they “looked right” – probably because the tables we looked at were all in a much lighter shade of wood – we’re not all that keen on dark furniture, so we tend to go for the lighter woods… now, having been back to the house again, I’m not so sure. The furniture there is all dark, and it somehow seems to suit the place… Anyway, we shall see…

And that’s pretty much it from me for tonight – stay tuned tomorrow night for all the latest at chez nous – find out what episodes of which show(s) my favourite eldest daughter and I watched, and learn if day 8 out of 10 has made any difference to the utter havoc those fluid-loving pills are unleashing on my poor ancient and decrepit old body… and whether or not I’ve been able to locate any promising-looking furniture stores! Oh, I’ve decided to make a small adjustment to my Stair Walking times! First one is always before breakfast. The second is usually just before, or just after lunch – depending on what’s happening. And the last one used to be anywhere between 5.15pm and 6.45pm. That’s the one I’m changing. It disrupts my writing and makes me late for dinner, so I’m now going to do my last Stair Walk for the day later – on my way back to the Den, after dinner and Television – around 9.30pm. I’ll be later dealing with my Minions, and later getting on Facebook, but only by about five minutes, which is really no big deal… But anyway, I’ll leave you all to digest tonight’s ramblings, and I hope I see you all here tomorrow night – but until then, bee good, remember that our prime purpose in life is to help others – and if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them. Don’t forget to look after yourselves, to keep warm, and to drive carefully – but most importantly, remember to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂